Take Down Your Skyhigh, Seastone Walls
by WasabiWhat
Summary: Everyone gets a chance at a great life, at family, at love. So it's common sense that when someone genuinely offers it, you don't slap the hand away. Too bad AJ doesn't have much common sense. That doesn't stop the Whitebeard Pirates from making her their sister, though. But there's a reason she has those sky high, seastone walls. The reason she refuses to be one of them.
1. The Beginning

Objects.

Space.

Time.

Ok, maybe not _time-_at least not yet-, but it was still a possibility.

Dimensions.

And Sometimes, even atoms.

In all honesty, she could seemingly control these in whichever way she pleased. No showing off. Objects were obviously the easiest to lift, to bring to life, because they were solid and inanimate objects. No other word could describe them except for 'object'. They were very visible and could be moved by regular hands no less, so gaining power over them was definitely easy. Space might be a bit difficult, but still didn't leave her drenched in sweat. She couldn't actually control space, because space was nothing. Space was just there and, technically speaking, could not be moved by one. It can be created by moving one object to another space, but it could not be _really _made, because it is nothing. So controlling space is hard to the very most, but that's how she moved objects and whatnot. She created something in the eternally empty space with her mind and moved it along whatever surface she wanted to.

Dimensions. These weren't nearly as difficult as atoms, but the separating and controlling actually could make her drop a few beads of sweat, depending on the size of the dimensions. Cutting down an object, breaking it in half, was no easy job. After years of pondering and meditation, she started to think that maybe she wasn't even suppose to be able to break the objects she controlled. That did not by any means mean she wanted to get rid of that portion of her powers. Making an object break in any which way definitely depended entirely on the objects own solidity and weight. Something like a tree, for example, could most likely be smashed with a few moments. A spoon, maybe more than a millisecond, at best. But, something as large as a building or ship, now that would take much concentration and power on her part. Now only is it heavy, but destroying it would take a regular human quite a few minutes. Despite all that, she could still destroy one with just a thought of her mind and a few hand motions that would make people around her think she was strangling an invisible criminal.

Now atoms. This was possibly the hardest possible thing in the universe that was possible for her to possibly control. Possibly. Most of the time, she couldn't even complete the seperating of them. One of the ways she had impecable control over inanimate objects was because she could see them, she could physically touch them. But one cant see atoms through the naked eye, not for it's true form. So how can one gain power over them without knowing what or where exactly it is? They should logically not be able to. But, with the help of whoever upstairs, she was able to. Sometimes, though, as was said before. She needed the absolute most concentration she could conjure up and some. First step. Then she needed to be able to pinpoint which atom(s) she was 'going after', so to say. After that was a blur. Separating atoms, as most people would know, should know, create large explosions. Large being a total understatement, but you get the jest. Nuclear bombs. This fact also played a part in the fight against her being able to control atom's freely. Since nuclear bombs are known to be loud, horrible, and all-destroying for hundreds of miles, she couldn't exactly use it all the time. She technically never did use it, she just felt in her bones that she could if she really wanted to.

But that all brings everything to the current situation. The situation where a girl impatiently sat near the mouth of a large lake. She had been sitting there for at least three hours now, and since, she had never moved a muscle, save for the scowls and less-than-pretty words that flew out of her mouth every once in a while. Her waist-length, thick black hair flew in the wind behind her, ever so often whipping her in the face. She briefly wondered at these moments why she kept it so long in the first place. Soft brown orbs rested in the middle of the lake, her border-line large lips in a complete frown. Most would call the scene beautiful, but that was anything but near what she felt inside. Anger bubbled in her insides as she kept failing and failing at making something, _anything _move.

Liquid was absolutely the hardest substance to control in the entire universe, she had decided sometime in the first hour of hoping. Staring. Because it wasn't solid, picking it up with her mind was nearly impossible. It kept slipping through her minds telekinetic powers and frustrating her even more. Water, juice, even the thicker tar have so far been unable to be controlled. Because it was ever moving. If you scoped up water in your cupped hands and there was just the smallest of holes, water would escape. Even in drips, it would leave your hands and drop to the ground or whatever else you were on. That's why she had so desperately tried to patch up all the holes in her telekinetic 'aura', so to say.

Here is how her powers worked. It was somewhat like a gas, if one thought about it long enough(which she obviously did), and worked like gas as well. Except for the obvious invisible-and-actually-able-to-carry-solid-objects part. It was like a spirit, roving around always, always swirling around her no matter what. And when she wanted to move an object, it went and did as told. Only she could see it, of course. She thought at first she was going crazy, but when she realized that what she moved with it others could see the change as well, she realized that she had some kind of weird power. Somehow. But the gas- which she named Calibus- couldn't grab water. It was like Calibus reached with fingers wide to hold it, but it always slipped away. So, out in the middle of nowhere, she was trying to perfect it somehow.

"You think she'll give up soon?" Her ears twitched as the small whisper made its way towards her. Annoyance began to creep up but she pushed it away, wanting to focus on her training. She closed her eyes to further her concentration.

"Nah. She was at it for over 10 hours when I was watching her the other day." Another replied. There were about 6, maybe 7 men who always watched her when she went training; or when she went anywhere, for that matter. At first, a couple years back at the age of 17, she begged her father to call the guards off. Not only was it disturbing her friends, it disturbed her to no ends. A handful of grown men watching your every move wasn't exactly a dream come true. But, like every other thing she asked of him, he gave her a hard, cold glare and told her he was 'working'. Which in all actuality wasn't a lie, but maybe if he would just leave his job once in a while to come spend time with her, things would be different...

She shook her head to clear her head of those wishful thinking's. She already spent 10 years of her life begging him to notice her, for anyone to show her some kind of attention, but she never succeeded in doing so. No time in between work, in between sleep, in between just being not there for her. Her anger began rising, she could feel it in her chest. Another deep breath. She blocked out the faint voices and continued.

"Water, can be brought up." She spoke. Her throat felt stiff, strained. "Water can be controlled. What lives and what breathes can be destroyed, therefore water can be destroyed, therefore it can be produced, and therefore it can be controlled. I can control it. I will control it." One of her many therapists, when she was younger, told her that everything is in the mind. You can make yourself believe that, for example, you're amazingly wise when you're actually pretty dull. You can make yourself believe in a lie that isn't on any degree the truth. Since Calibus is technically all in her mind, since it's created by her very thoughts, she could eliminate the patches by just believing it. The only thing wrong with that is the fact that she knows that's not true.

"This is going nowhere." The raven-haired girl growled, a soft sigh of disappointment escaping her lips. Another failed training session. She rose from the ground and dusted her pants off. She didn't show it on the outside, but it ticked her off to no end when she wasted a day of training learning absolutely nothing. She raised her head and glanced around. Then she whistled a small tune. It was something one of her old nurses had taught her, before she had passed away a couple years before then. This purpose of the whistle was created by- who else? - her father, so she could always inform her guards when she was making a major transition in her settings. The girl started to walk alongside the river bed.

"I'm heading back to the house." A small smirk played at her lips. "Come, if you can keep up." She lifted a rock by her side with a flick of her hand. It was about 8 feet in diameter, if she was to estimate, and only 3 feet thick. She jumped onto it's surface and steadied herself. While she did this a lot, the feeling of being lifted of the ground and flying always frightened and fascinated her at the same time. When she was completely still on the rock, she sent it soaring forward with a single thought. It headed straight for her house 3 hours away.

***************YO****************

When she started to near her large home, she took a brief moment to overlook it in it's entirety. The whole house itself took up 8 acres of otherwise-untouched island land. It was pretty modern looking, open windows overlooking the great view the island had to offer, with glass basically being the main component in its structure. It stood 3 stories off the ground, a beige color being the new choice of her fathers architect. She internally cursed that man for his boring taste. The house was conveniently placed right by the vast New World ocean, so boats could come and go with either messages or her father, the latter sadly being less often. She glanced at the docks. They were empty. She shook her head in disappointment and lowered her transportation rock closer to the ground. Surrounding her house was a 50 foot black gate that kept out the animals and whatnot of the island. Yes, they had enough monsters here that they needed a gate of that size to keep them from destroying the house when all inhabitants were elsewhere. It curved around the entire building, joining together in a large entrance in the back. That's where her room was located.

She lowered the rock right onto the ground and braced herself for impact. The sudden jerk almost sent her off the object, had she not had practice with this countless times beforehand. Because of the recent rain, the rock skidded against fresh mud. A grin set on the girls face. She leaned on the rock to make it go to the left ever so slightly, aiming for the door. If she was to guess, she was going 10 miles an hour. She weaved her way through all the countless bushes in her backyard with the help of her telekinesis. Finally, she pushed down hard enough on the rock that it flipped itself over. The girl jumped up and onto the now-close porch with a loud thud.

"And the crowd goes wild! She made it with a perfect score of a million!" She yelled in triumph. She caught the rock before it hit her back door and flung it somewhere else, as if she was throwing flowers out into an audience of roaring fans. She watched it go into the far distance before losing interest and walking into her house. She looked both ways. Empty, as usual. No pets- those never last long on this island, for some reason-, no maids- well, she always gave them the day off when she was going to be out for a long time-, and no father. No that she expected any of them to be there. She slunk her large sweater off her shoulders and tossed on some nearby couch.

The inside décor of the house was simple, yet it was dubbed 'classy and retro' by the architect. If classy and retro meant boring and dull, than the girl making her way to her room just had to agree. Every room was white. Every room was dark blue. So, every room consisted of only two colors, and they just so happened to be the same exact two colors of the marines. Great. When she reached the dark blue door that led to her room, she pushed it open and locked it behind her.

"Hey, Thresha. I thought you left." She spotted a cat in the middle of the room, elegantly grooming its paws with its little pink tongue. She was a beauty, sleek silver pelt with soft blue eyes. The cat only glanced up as a response to her owner.

"I see someone's in a bad mood." The girl further commented. A moment passed by before something that could be categorized as a sigh escaped the small cat's lips. Thresha fully turned her body to look up to the girl.

"Yes, I just so happen to be, AJ. It's normal for people to feel things called emotions." She meowed.

"Yeah, well, you're not exactly what I would call 'people'." The girl, AJ, replied. A small tick mark could be visible on the cats head if one looked hard enough.

"Low blow."

"Low blow but true blow." AJ watched with a small smirk as her feline friend seemingly growled and decided to turn and stalk away to her house, located in the far corner of the room. As she departed to most likely sleep off her nerves, AJ thought about the first time she had found Thresha. She had been playing in the woods one evening, bored out of her mind, when a flash of silver crossed her gaze. Being only about 13, she had been instantly hypnotized. Long story short, she had come home with an annoyed cat and multiple, bleeding scratch marks. The surprise that she could speak came months later. It was even a surprise to Thresha herself!

"Did you make any progress with your water training?" It seemed the cat was more cheerful than usual, she mused. The raven-haired adult sat on her bed and thoughtful stared into the distance.

"No, not yet. I mean, not that I expected to." Thresha stopped her scratching against a pole and glanced at AJ. A look of annoyance graced her features once more.

"Well how do you expect to do anything if you have an attitude like that?" AJ rolled her eyes.

"Oh whatever. It's a lot harder than you think."

"Maybe so, but I do know that you get nowhere if you don't believe you can achieve your goal. You remember what Jasmine said." AJ cringed at the mention of her old nanny. No, she was more than that. Jasmine had been like a mother to her. Maybe a grandma, basing off the age, but still as close as can be. She taught AJ almost everything she knows about common sense and relationship skills.

"Yeah yeah. 'If you don't know it, you can't have it.'"

"Exactly." Thresha gave a flick of her tail. "If you know it so well, why don't you apply it?"

"I do, Thresha. I do. It's just so difficult to control Calibus. It's like it has a mind of its own!" AJ groaned out loud. She slammed her back into her bed and felt like screaming.

"Well, I'm hungry."

"That's nice."

"... Feed me."

"Why should I? You know how to hunt for yourself."

"You and I both know that the only reason I came with you all those years ago was to discontinue that horrendous act people call hunting."

"You were a cat who never knew civilization before we moved here. How on earth did you manage to not like hunting while hunting was a must for you to survive?" She asked. But she didn't really expect an answer. Anything from before she came to live with AJ, Thresha never spoke of. As a reminder of this, the cat changed the subject.

"Whatever. I guess I'll just starve."

"I guess you will."

"You're abusive."

"And you're passive-aggressive."

And that's how the day went for AJ. Nothing at all.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Impatient taps against hard wooden railing was all that was heard throughout the whole ship. A heavy, eerie feeling had set on all the souls of the inhabitants of the large vessel. They dragged their feet, their smiles weren't as bright, and their jokes were only half-hearted. This is what it was like when someone loved and cherished moved on. Dead silence now took over. A pair of eyes scanned over the whole deck and watched the sluggish movements of his brother and sisters. Hurt was all he had felt for the past two days. Losing a brother was always hard to him, always made him want to puke and stay isolated for days when it happened. But he was the first mate of one of the largest crews in the world. Over 1600 younger brothers and sisters looked to him for guidance, right below his Oyaji. So it was natural that he always suppressed his feelings until he was in the safety of his room. He fought back the tears that threatened to fall with a deep breath.

At the moment, they were all heading to a marine's home located near the end of the New World. The 12th division had scrounged up information from a vice-admiral about where the man who had killed their brother was located.

Even thinking about that man made his blood turn cold. He shook his head and reviewed the plan.

The man's home was to be reached any minute now. Once they were there, they would have permission to wreck havoc as much as they pleased. They always got Oyaji's permission to do anything they wanted to in this kind of situation. After totally demolishing the entire house and everything inside, including the man, if he was there, they would leave and the only trace of their presence would be a spray-painted symbol of their jolly roger.

"Oi, Marco." Said man turned and faced the source of the familiar voice. An orange hat came into view first.

"Hey, Ace." He gestured to the empty space next to him and Ace walked up to it. The two were silent for a moment.

"... I miss him." Ace solemnly spoke first. Those word's hit Marco like a sea-stone bullet to the chest. He had known the fallen commander for decades now, and if he was allowed to say, he was close to him. The Phoenix had fought besides him in countless battles and arguments. He watched him grow stronger and more mature, he watched him as he became the feared commander of the a division in his family. When news of his death reached Marco, the first thing he did was deny it. He kept saying that there was no way he could have died. But, after rushing and seeing the body, along with the entire crew, he was proven terribly wrong. It wasn't anything gruesome, but it still made him want to pass out. Marco could recall the stomach-churning feeling, the hurt his heart could never get use to. The first-division commander sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"So do I, yoi." He replied, voice barley a whisper. He promised himself he wouldn't cry. So he didn't. He straightened up and kept his face hard.

"When we find that man, he will wish he was never born. He'll know to never mess with us, with our family, and think he can just get away. When I find him, he's going to be begging on his knee's for our forgiveness. But, he won't get it. What he did is unforgivable. His kids and hell even his freaking pets will feel his pain." Ace stole the words right out of Marco's mouth. He had a fire and anger in his tone that the older man had never heard before. It would usually scare a normal person into running away with their tails in between their legs, but not Marco. It actually made him more determined to get revenge for his fallen brother. He nodded in agreement and glanced down to the other fire-user.

"You better leave some for the rest of us, yoi." He joked. A small smirk tugged on Ace's lips, the first one seen in ages it seemed like. Marco wasn't aware of all the relationships in the crew, but he was 100% sure the two had been close, if all the two playing pranks and generally hanging out was any clue.

"We'll see." And they left it at that. They left it at that because overhead, one of the navigators bursted through the doors to their working area and shouted something that definitely got the place to look more lively.

"We're approaching the island! 10 minutes and it'll be in view!" He hollered. This got all of the Whitebeard piraets head's to perk up, a look that meant business replacing their sorrow. All around Marco, men and women started unseathing swords, cracking their knuckles, and generally getting prepared to beat some serious you-know-what. Marco himself stood tall and glanced around the boat. His eyes landed on two large double doors, which had just been opened. His heart hardened at the sight of his angered captain, his Oyaji. The large man walked on deck and at that moment, all eyes were on him. Silence. The captain did the same as Marco and looked over all his sons and daughters.

"We are here to bring vengeance on my son, your brother, who was killed on false charges from the Navy." He began, basically grounding out the words. "We are here to make them know that they cannot bring harm to my family and expect to be let off the hook so easily." Shouts started erupting from all around the large ship.

"They'll pay!"

"We'll avenge him!"

"He'll never get away with it!"

"So, as such," Whitebeard paused for a moment. "Do whatever you like to this mans household. We won't let him rest knowing what he did to Blamenco! Now lets go get him, my childrean!"

"HAI, OYAJI!"

**First chapter completed! Okay, so first thing first, I AM SO SORRY! I am so sorry that I had to kill him off but I needed a reason for them to show on the next chapter... you'll see. I am SO SORRY. PLEASE FORGIVE ME~!**

**See, I was trying to make it seem like it was Thatch just to give y'all a heartache for DAYS, cause I know I would have had one if I were you. **

**So, I guess review please? I'll take anything, I consider myself pretty honest about all my short-comings so I will take everything seriously. THANKS! The next chapter'll be out soon :) **

**Babyyyyeeee :D**


	2. FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT!

**YOOOOO! Here's the next chapter... I warn you, it's all fighting and comebacks and stuff so yeah. Nothing substantial happens except for the heck-ton of foreshadowing that's going on here. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. You already know the reason why :'( **

**Chapter Rating: I would say K+.**

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><p>When she first looked at the map, which had been beeping like crazy, she didn't believe her own eyes. AJ had even pinched herself multiple times to make sure she wasn't imagining anything. When that only caused her to swear and want to strangle herself, she affirmed that she really wasn't hallucinating.<p>

It was about 3 hours after her 'training' session and she was in the middle of eating dinner- a delicious ham samich, if she should say so herself- when she heard the faint alarm. According to the indicator, there was a ship, and It was approaching fast. Large too. Her mouth had hung open in surprise for a second. Because of the island's location, AJ never got any visitors except for her father and his colleagues. She thought about the possibility of it being wrong, but then she remembered that this was the latest, top of the line stuff. So there was no way it wasn't accurate. The teen stared at the map a second later before a smirk found its way to her face. It wasn't a marine ship, that much she knew. They never came after 7 in the evening, unless it was some sort of holiday she had forgotten. Basing her conclusion on the fact that there definitely wasn't any special occasion, her face lit up like a million condescend suns: It had to be a pirate ship! Her heart raced in excitement and she found herself running to the door, half-eaten sandwich totally abandoned and alone. A slip of silver escaped out of the house after her, unbeknownst to her, as usual.

* * *

><p>The ship managed to docked next to the island without being seen, thank heavens, the first-division commander though. The owner of the house they were about to destroy was high-up in the Navy, though, so Marco made a mental note to be cautious the whole time. Not that he didn't do it already.<p>

Out on deck, It took literally all the power in the world to keep his brothers and sisters still and on board until Whitebeard came out. He enjoyed seeing their enthusiasm to avenge their fallen brother, but even then, he found it annoying that they never, ever quieted down or could not move for two seconds.

"Oi, SHUT UP!" He hollered, but as usual, his commands were met with snares and the repetition of the words back to himself. Marco massaged the growing tick mark down and took a deep breath.

"HEY, THERE'S SOMETHING FLYING TOWARDS US!" He looked up and was surprised when his newest brother actually wasn't lying.

Now, AJ wasn't dumb. Or, at least she hoped she wasn't; she didn't really know. But she had some common sense. Like, to not touch an oven when it's on. Or pull the tail of a three story-high dog and expect to get away with it with no injuries. Or, for example, to not face the world's strongest crew in the entire world head on with no back up. Too bad she didn't have that much common sense. She just couldn't help herself! When the jolly roger with the smiling head and large white mustache came into view, her belly started flipping and her grin grew wider. It wasn't everyday she met someone that could actually compare to her powers strength. Without even a second thought on the matter, her mind was already made up.

AJ steadied her large transportation rock in the sky and looked down at the large, main ship of the Whitebeard Pirates, the Moby Dick. It was definitely bigger in real life than it looked like in the pictures, she surprisedly thought. The hull was a large whale, it seemed. It must have been at least 500 feet long! And rightly so, she mused, since there were over 1600 crew members. She swooped around once and then prepared to dive down.

As she sped down to the vessel from 600 feet in the air, the details became more clear to her. Practically all of the pirates were on deck right now, if she had to estimate. And they were all staring at her. What surprised AJ is that they made no move to attack. It was as if they were waiting for something, waiting for a command to do their worst. But as she found out, no order came. When she was about to crash into some now-scared weak-looking pirates, she titled her rock up so that it was slanted from the front down. The air worked as it was suppose to and slowed her descent. As she was slowing down, she whizzed past hundreds of men and women that bore an expression of both anger and amazement. Just as she had done earlier, AJ kicked down on the front of the rock and flipped down to the wooden flooring. She skidded to a stop and took a deep breath.

"HAHA! She does it again!" She laughed in total bliss. She ignored the skeptical looks of the pirates and did a little victory dance. For some reason, flying through the air and making a perfect landing made her happy and proud. AJ calmed herself down to address the pirates, but even then, she had a small smirk on her face.

No one made a move. The only thing one could hear was the faint sound of waves crashing against the island and boat. Tension was high in the air at the sight of a newcomer, understandably, and she couldn't deny the fact tha she was slowly feeling uncomfortable. AJ glanced around her and looked for any familiar faces. There were none, most likely because these were too low level for her to remember any of their Wanted Posters. The air suddenly felt heavy and made AJ cautious about any sneak attacks. Though she doubted the infamous pirate crew would do such a low thing, there was always a chance. AJ finally opened her mouth to speak when she saw something in the corner of her eye move. She put a hand up upon instinct and, instead of using Calibus, stopped the object with her own hand. With a turn of her head, she located what had moved. A knife. Her face hardened in disappointment.

'Okay, so maybe they do do low blows.' She thought to herself. She flicked her eyes up and looked for the culprit.

"Who-"

"I was just testing out your skills, so don't worry. If you actually did get hit, we wouldn't waste our time with you." A voice deep and smooth moved her to search for the source of the sound. She didn't have to, though, because he came to her. Pirates clearing out to make a pathway caught her attention and she waited for him to show. Or... her? No, it was a him, she concluded. He was a cross-dresser, apparently, and one of the most famous at that.

"Izou, 12th division commander." She identified. She could feel her smile growing. "To what do I owe this great privilege?"

"I should be asking you the same thing." He replied, calm and collected.

"Well, seeing as how I'm the one who lives here and you're the visitor, you should be telling me why you're here, don't you think?" AJ asked. He seemed to contemplate his answer before giving a wave of his hand.

"You must be his daughter, depending on your age. I didn't know he had a child." Izo said that more to himself than to anyone else. AJ raised an eyebrow in question.

"Who?"

"Raiyo Desponda." A hint of smugness was laced in his voice. AJ felt herself want to laugh at that. But, as her father commanded endlessly, she feigned surprise. Her eyes widened and she let her mouth hang ajar for a moment. Then she gathered herself back and wore a scowl.

"How do you know about him?" She growled. Instead of his smugness meter going up by 300%, like most people did when they thought they were "right", he stopped cold. To the untrained eye, they wouldn't even see it; but AJ was trained by the best there was. He looked almost... skeptical. SHe felt like his eyes were trying to bore in her soul and dig her deepest graves, and she had only met two seconds ago! She waved it off as nothing but kept in reference for later. Izo stayed silent for a moment more before gripping his gun. This caught AJ off guard, and she prepared to fight. But he stopped there. His whole mood started changing again, first to confusion, then realization, then finally, anger. Cold-blooded anger. It was so strong that she could have sworn that just being next to him could kill somebody. Why the sudden change?, she mused. As if sensing her curiosity, a smile so broken and sorrowful stretched on his face and made AJ wince.

"Your father killed my brother, miss." He answered. This time, AJ's shock was real.

"What?" Was all she managed to say. Her brow furrowed in confusion. He never killed anyone. Not that he didn't want or need to kill anyone, so to say, but it's that he himself never did it. He never got his hands bloody, but instead, he preferred ordering someone else to do it for him. He definitely had the power- she shuddered at the thought of his cold, dark laugh and strong training she received from him- but her father would rather have someone else get blamed if anything went wrong. So, the question was, what the heck? Did they get the culprit wrong and think it was her father? Did he actually order for the execution but was found out? AJ kept silent about her speculations and leaned against her rock.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Which wasn't all a lie. "My father didn't kill him, your brother, whoever you're talking about." And that wasn't a lie either. Maybe.

"Do you have proof, yoi?" A new player. AJ turned her head to the direction of the voice. A man, maybe late 50's?, walked up to the two. He had blond hair that reminded AJ of a pineapple- she snickered at that- and an expression that showed lazy yet serious. She recognized him right on sight. He had people behind him as well: a man about her age, tossed black hair under an orange hat, a man in between the two with a pompadour hairstyle and an almost poisonous smile, and the man of the crew himself, stalking just a few paces behind him. Upon seeing the large captain, AJ smiled.

"Ah, Whitebeard himself has come to see me." She looked him up and down when he stopped a few yards away from her. "You're a lot bigger than they say."

"Who are you, brat?" He asked, ignoring her statement. His voice was impossibly deep and had a sort of rumble to it.

"I'm Raiyo Despondo's daughter, at your service." She gave a mock bow. "I'm here to see why you're here," She motioned to the entire ship, "But your commander here already told me."

"About Blamenco?!" The man with the orange hat, Fire-Fist Ace, seemed ready to pounce on her. AJ nodded.

"Yeah, your brother. He said my father killed him."

"And you said he didn't. Again, do you have any proof that he actually didn't?" Fourth division commander, Thatch, spoke up.

"Um. No. Not really. I just know he wouldn't do something like that."

"And how do you know that, child?" Whitebeard asked. AJ hadn't realized it earlier, but when he said his last phrase, she felt uncomfortable once again. When she looked around at the spectators, she just now saw the horrid looks she was getting. It was ike they wanted to kill her and hang her body up on a flagpole. It just now occurred to her that she was standing in between the Whitebeard pirates and their goal. She tried to brush off her upcoming uneasiness and straightened her posture.

"Because I know. He would never do something so reckless as to leave evidence it was him." That was somewhat the truth. The captain seemed to be considering her words, but finally the first division commander stepped in.

"We know he did it. Our 12th division has been up for 3 days straight trying to find whoever was inhumane enough to kill him in such a twisted way, yoi." He paused and closed his eyes, as if trying to calm his nerves down. AJ frowned at this. Based on what he said right before he stopped, something terrible happened to Blamenco that caused his death. "And we will not, absolutely refuse to rest before he is avenged."

"And are you one to stop us?" Fire-Fist added. His comment seemed to freeze over the entire pirate crew. Even AJ herself stopped and considered what he was implying. Was she going to fight them? Was she able to fight them? Most likely not Whitebeard, but everyone she could take on, she halfheartedly though. Her eyes darted across the faces of all the anxious pirates and she decided to close her eyes. She took a deep breath. In, and out. In, and out. In, and out. She opened her eyes.

"I don't think so." Her gaze snapped up the strongest man in the world. "Unless you're out to kill my father. That'll be a pain if he dies right now."

"'A pain'?" The fourth-division commander

sounded like he saw a ghost. "Is that it?"

"Excuse if I'm not that close with the old hag. But, I'm serious when I'm saying it wouldn't be the greatest thing in the world. He's the only family I got left. I'm not going to let you just kill him." She lied right through her teeth. It seems that she's so use to doing it that people actually believe her now. But, she kept a straight face and glared at the old man. He looked thoughtful for a second before surprising AJ with his next words. With a raise of his hand, the crew started snickering in a way that wasn't very pleasing to her ears.

"If you stand in our way, you are against us, daughter of Raiyo Desponda. I'll give you one more time to get out of my way before I give my sons and daughters the okay to let all their pent-up frustrations on you." AJ didn't even try to hide the smirk that fell on her lips.

"By all means, let's get this over with."

When those words smugly left her lips, Marco knew something wasn't right. They were the strongest crew in the world, so why wasn't she cowering in fear? Even if they hadn't been the strongest, it was still 1600 to one! There was no way someone like her was that strong. But, he kept a careful eye out for anything suspicious anyhow, being the overprotective brother Ace and Thatch always called him.

After she gave her okay with fighting them, the others looked a little taken back as well, as if they had figured what he himself did just seconds before. Unsure glances were exchanged between some of them, but they shrugged it off. With a war cry, they charged at the apparently calm and confident, defenseless girl. Oyaji had turned away, losing interest in the matter and had muttered something about finding Raiyo. That was before a series of events played out that left Marco speechless and grasping at straws.

A split second before the Phoenix was going to turn and follow his father out, a wave of something that could be identified as only one thing washed over the entire boat. It hit Marco a tad at first, not even making him move a muscle, but then the brunt of the burst reached him. It made him gasp in shock and his eyes to widen; how did she have that much haki?! He thought to himself, surprised an understatement. Even Oyaji had felt it and turned back around to see what it was.

In the middle of the boat, the mystery girl was standing with her eyes closed. She would have been able to be picked and removed to a calm library type place with the calm expression she bore. But around her, everything was anything but calm. The weaker men and women of the crew had since fainted from the enormously-strong blast. It put him on high-alarm, seeing all of them knock-out in the first second. Soon, all of them had collapsed into a deep sleep on the hard floor.

The deck was now littered with unconscious bodies. Confused enough as it was, Marco stared at the girl in complete shock. Despite that obvious haki usage, she was still exerting the power out of her. How much did she have left? When he thought she couldn't make him raise his eyebrows anymore, she did. It was as if she was about to quit and open her eyes when she furrowed her brows together, as if concentrating on something. He didn't even have to ask what it was in order to obtain his answer. Another wave of power, this time at least 5 times stronger than before, hit him like a wrecking ball(wait, what? What's a wrecking ball?). The thought came and gone faster than lightening as he heard loud thuds next to him. In surprise, he snapped his sight to the side. What he saw made his belly flip in a horrible angle.

All the stronger members of the divisions were down on both knees, but not the commanders themselves(though even they were starting to not look so good either). They were all panting heavily, as if they had run a mile in a second, and little beads of liquid started forming on their foreheads. It pained Marco to see the sight, of course, but what slammed louder in his confused mind was bewilderment. Bewilderment at the fact that a single girl alone could take all but 17 members of the freakin' Whitebeard Pirates with only her Haki. That a girl who posed no threat three minutes ago could easily become the biggest they ever dealt with. Who was she?, he thought.

"Oi! Are you guys okay?!" Thatch's voice brought him out of his trance and he joined his brother. He knealt next to his fellow brothers and sisters.

"What's... happening?" Haruta was the first to speak, and Marco could just hear the confusion and surprise in her voice. He glanced back at the girl, who's eyes were still closed in complete concentration.

"I don't know, yoi. Be on guard."

* * *

><p>AJ stopped her haki and opened her eyes. Because of the tight squeezing, her vision was yellow-spotted for a moment. It subsided a moment later and she took in her surroundings.<p>

Bodies.

Lots of bodies.

Too many too count.

Even though they were only unconscious, the sight gave her a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She hated seeing bodies.

With a shake of her head, she attempted to clear her mind and focus on the fight ahead. She instantly found the remainder of the Whitebeard Pirates, 17 bodies in total, a little ways in front of her. She blinked in confusion and was taken aback. Had her Haki taken out all the pirates except for the commanders and captain? Seeing as how there was no one else, she took that as a yes. A scowl formed on her face.

"It's getting stronger..." She wondered aloud. That was definitely a problem. She had no time left on the matter, though, when sometime in front of her moved once more. AJ only had a half second to fall backwards before a leg would connect with her face. She did so and right when her back touched the ground, she sprung herself back up and tried to kick the assailant. He was too quick for her and jumped back a couple feet. Behind him, AJ noticed the other commanders gathering all the bodies of their crew mates and bringing them through a door. A snapping of fingers snapped her back into the current situation.

"Stay on me." Hissed Izo.

"Your own death wish, then." AJ lamented. The older man was still for a moment, same as her. It seemed like he was sizing her up, trying to figure out how strong she was. Before he moved to attack, he started mumbling something incoherent. She was going to ask him to 'speak the hell up!' but he stopped moving his lips. He broke out in a fast run, unsheathing his swords in the process. When he was almost near enough for him to do any damage, instead of striking, he jumped over her head. He flipped up and over her and landed on the other side. What was the point of that? She wondered. She was about to ask when she heard something to the spot where he use to be. IT sounded like heavy footsteps, at an accelerating rate. This time, her reflexes weren't fast enough. She could only stare in horror and embed her body with Haki as what looked like Diamond Jozu, division commander of the thirds, smashed into her with full force. She was sure she heard her arm bones breaking as she covered her chest with them, even with the extra protection. She screamed in pure agony at the sheer force and the pain the front of her body was in. Because of the collide and her obvious lesser weight, she flew back into a wall somewhere. The breaking of wood was the last thing she heard before she momentarily fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>"That should deal with her, yoi. Now let's go and do what we came to do. The others will be okay until we get back." Marco looked over his crew, or, what was left of the Whitebeard pirates. Izo and Jozu came running back to join the group.<p>

"Yeah! Let's go!" Ace agreed.

"Does anyone actually know where it is?" Rayiko brought up.

"Of course!" Haruta huffed. "I'm not the commander of the intelligence division for nothing!"

"Is it wise to leave her there?" She suddenly asked, glancing back in slight nervousness at the large whole-in-the-wall that the guys daughter had flown into.

"It's alright, yoi. Jozu hit her full-on with his diamond form. Even if she were to wake up, it won't be any time soon."

"But you saw what she did with her Haki, Marco. IF she could do that, who knows how powerful she really is!"

"It'll be alright, Haruta! If that was me, I would have stayed unconscious for at least three hours- and I'm saying that because it did happen to me- so theres no way she's going to wake up before we come back." Ace reassured her. She looked skeptical a moment more before a smile broke out on her face.

"Yeah, you're right." Haruta smiled in agreement.

"Now, let's go avenge my son, children!" Whitebeard hit his staff down on the ground.

"Hai!"

Marco glanced one more at the whole where the girl was in before following his family to the house of their enemy. He knew nothing wrong was going to happen, so why did he have this bad feeling in the pit of his stomach?

* * *

><p><strong>YEAH! There we go :) Okay, I know that was a really sucky chapter, but it's all about fore-shadowing. It's all about that fore-shadow, fore-shadow, fore-shadow Lol but the third chapter is already underway so expect it soon. The next chapter is going to be a bit better in my opinion because she finally joins the crew! Sort of... you'll see. ^_^ Thanks for all of those who are reading and being patient with my lateness! LOVE YALLLL <strong>

**Review please! ^-^ **


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